


City on the Ground

by mycha



Category: Alice (2009)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-23
Updated: 2012-12-23
Packaged: 2017-11-22 01:58:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/604566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mycha/pseuds/mycha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Even Hatter's thoughts ramble. A look into what Hatter might think about during the quiet points between the scenes in the show.</p>
            </blockquote>





	City on the Ground

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Naranne](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Naranne/gifts).



_"Why couldn't you have built the city on the ground?"_

Hatter couldn't help but grin at the thought of Alice's comment. They weren't Oysters, they were Wonderlandians, why would they want to do what Oysters thought was normal? Besides, they _did_ build the city on the ground. Then added more ground on top of the buildings with more buildings on top of that ground. The whole city was built that way – layers of buildings atop layers of ground. It made far more sense in all honesty, he thought. If they built everything on Alice's definition of 'the ground' then they would spread out and take over everything. This way the people were in the same place. They had their little spot in the world, the Jabberwocks had theirs.

The queen definitely preferred everyone to be in one place. It made it easier to control the populace. Hatter had no illusions as to why the Tea existed. It had been around for so long most thought that they couldn't feel emotions any other way. In reality, they could, but the Tea gave it to them in such concentrated amounts that one could rarely get that kind of strength on their own. To be able to get the feeling on demand? He doubted anyone could do that on their own. The reality, though, was the Teas made people more amenable, more pliable to the queen's wishes. She could control everything useful – knowledge, punishment, rewards – simply because people were afraid they would be cut off from the bliss that they found in the bottom of a bottle of Tea.

Personally, Hatter hadn't enjoyed the stuff in a long time. Sure, he experimented with it as a kid, who didn't? He remembered how great it would feel to get jacked up on a cocktail of lust, desire, and passion before shagging someone until he physically couldn't any longer. He knew what it was like to take a sip of forgetfulness and wake up days later feeling immeasurably better, but out of step with the world because of how long he'd been gone. He knew _very_ well what euphoria, and its close cousin ecstasy, did when mixed with just about any other positive emotion there was out there. There was a reason he used to be called Mad after all.

Being a Tea seller, he knew all the wares – he did taste them occasionally – but he no longer seriously imbibed. They were too addictive, those Teas. A seller couldn't afford to get too attached to his own product, it would lead to a loss of profit and in the Tea business, loss of profit led to loss of head. He liked his head just where it was on his shoulders, thank-you-very-much.

How did he get on the subject of Teas anyway? He knew he had started out thinking about Wonderland being built on the ground. 

Alice shifted behind him. It wasn't much, but it was enough to remind him of her proximity. They were following the crazy knight, supposedly to the Kingdom of Knights. The man had only two horses with him so Alice was sitting behind himself on the mahogany mare they were loaned. Somewhere along the way, Hatter had finally convinced the girl to lean against him and sleep. 

That had to be why he kept shifting to thinking about emotions and Teas. He could practically feel all of hers flow off like a wide open faucet. There was no dilution of the stuff. In fact, her emotions were so potent, he realized now that the Teas actually _were_ diluted. If he weren't so accustomed to their effects, Hatter was positive he'd be madder now than he had ever been. 

Smiling wider, Hatter focused on the dozing woman behind him. Calm, hope, sadness, fear, loneliness. He could practically taste the different emotions. He didn't sell the last three. He knew they were out there, but they were almost exclusively black market and medicinal use, if you called the Drs. Dee and Dum's usage medicinal. He grimaced at the thought. He'd been required to try several of those as well in his time. Some came to market at one point or another, but the 'negative' emotions never sold well. The queen and the Drs. did use them. Despair and despondency were good to slip into someone's drink if one wanted to encourage the person to kill themselves. Paranoia did well to keep a person under your control or get them to talk. Hatred was useful to make a person murderous – March was a prime example of what too much of that could do to a bloke. 

Happiness snuck up on him. The force behind the emotion made him moan lowly before he bit his tongue. It was another one of the more regulated Teas, so he was not nearly as immune to it as he was to some of the others. Alice could be unbelievably happy, or just a little happier than normal but he couldn't tell which. Maybe if he saw her face he could, or after some time, but at this point in their relationship... 

Their relationship? How had he gotten to thinking about that? What relationship? She was a silly, overly emotional little Oyster. Just because she made him want to feel emotions again – natural, unadulterated, undiluted emotions – did not mean they were in a relationship! 

Ah bloody hell. Who did he think he was he foolin'? When he had said he was a friend, he hoped, he was just trying to be nice, trying to be calming until he knew what he was actually dealing with. Before they had even left the main city, Hatter knew that he actually did want to at least be friends with this little living pot full of Tea. Now, with her tucked so closely into him, he was starting to have second thoughts about that being enough.

Maybe Dodo was on to something when he called Alice his Oyster. He had gained little bits of trust, bits that she didn't even realize so he didn't point them out, but they were there. In return, she had actually cared about what happened to him. She didn't leave him to Dodo's hands. She refused to leave him to lure a Jabberwock to the posse. In a world full of self-preservation and distrust, she had given him a reason to trust in her. 

Maybe 'relationship' was the correct word. The yearning that suddenly flooded his senses was near overwhelming. His? Hers? Hatter didn't know but suspected from the potency it was a combination of both. 

Smiling wistfully, he rested his hand over hers which were loosely clasped in front of himself. His Oyster. His Alice. Hatter liked the sound of that. Despite her crazy Oyster ideas (truly, why would anyone want to build an entire city on the ground?) he was definitely becoming attached to her.


End file.
